NEED TO KNOW
- NHL star Rasmus Dahlin is speaking out about his fiancée’s recent health emergency
- While the couple was on vacation in France over the summer, Carolina Matovac, 25, suffered heart failure and underwent a heart transplant, the Buffalo Sabres star wrote in an open letter
- Matovac is now “recovering well,” Dahlin said
NHL star Rasmus Dahlin is opening up about his fiancée’s “traumatic” health emergency, which happened when they were on a vacation over the summer in France.
In a letter to the Buffalo Sabres community, Dahlin shared that his 25-year-old fiancée, Carolina Matovac, suffered heart failure and underwent a heart transplant while in the south of France.
“While on vacation in France early this summer, Carolina began to feel sick for a few days, which quickly turned into her experiencing major heart failure,” Dahlin, 25, wrote. “Fortunately, she received CPR on multiple occasions, and up to a couple of hours at a time to keep her alive, which ultimately saved her life. Without her receiving lifesaving CPR, the result would have been unimaginable. It is hard to even think about the worst-case scenario.”
Matovac was transferred to a hospital “where she remained on life support for weeks before she was a beneficiary of a heart transplant,” Dahlin added.
The Sabres captain went on to thank the “tremendous nurses, doctors and rehabilitation staff” at hospitals in Juan-les-Pins and Marseille, France and in Gothenburg, Sweden, where the hockey star is from.
“Without the incredible commitment, expertise, care, and sensitivity of all the people who treated Carolina, we would not be in the position that we are in today, with Carolina recovering well and on the path to a full recovery,” he wrote.
The NHL star also shared his gratitude to the league, the players’ association, and the Sabres’ owners — the Pegula family, who also own the Buffalo Bills.
He added that, through his announcement, he and Carolina hope to spotlight the importance of CPR training and organ donation.
Meanwhile, his fiancée continues her recovery abroad.
“While Carolina is still working through her rehab to return to be with me in Buffalo, she has demonstrated an incredible determination, spirit, positivity, and resilience that I am in awe of,” Dahlin wrote. “This has undoubtedly been the most challenging chapter of our lives, however it is something that we have learned so much from.”
He concluded, “Truly, we cannot say thank you enough for the continued support and we ask for continued privacy as Carolina continues on the path to a full recovery.”
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